Nico Smiley
| appears_in_anime = Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V | ja_voice = Hajime Iijima | en_voice = | de_voice = Tobias Lelle | ar_voice = Hassan Hamdan }} Nico Smiley is a recurring character in the Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V anime. He is a manager of professional Duelists, having managed The Sledgehammer. Design Appearance In the dub, Nico Smiley's mustache is lengthened to avoid resembling Adolf Hitler. He is a skinny man who wears a pink, yellow, and black jacket and a ribbon tie. Nico has straight black hair and pink and orange glasses. He somewhat resembles a clown. Nico wears two rings on his left hand. Personality Etymology Smiley's first name comes from the onomatopoeia "nico nico", a term for when someone is all smiles. Biography Pre-Arc League Championship Nico approached Skip Boyle at the behest of the Leo Institute of Dueling, who wished to have the champion the Sledgehammer Duel You Show Duel School student Yuya Sakaki, as The Sledgehammer never got the oppurtunity to Duel the boy's father, who had no-showed at their championship match. Leo Institute agreed to give You Show Duel School their new ARC System free of charge in exchange. Yuya eventually agreed. On the day of the Duel, Nico functioned as a commentator. After The Sledgehammer lost to Yuya, he stepped down as champion and went overseas to train, leaving Smiley without a Duelist to manage. Nico eventually approached Yuya, offering a free entrance to the Junior Arc League Championship if Yuya agreed to take him on as manager, not before telling Yuya about what happened to the Sledgehammer. Yuya refused, insisting that he wanted to enter the tournament through the usual means. He instead asked Nico to aid him in finding opponents to defeat, as he needed four more wins to qualify, to which Nico agreed. He arranged Yuya to Duel four different opponents , including his best friend Gong, and decided to train Yuya to become a pro Duelist. Nico first arranged a Duel for Yuya against Reed Pepper. Nico was listening to Yuya's conversation with Reed and gave a disgusted look when Yuya's stomach growled. Nico eventually found Yuya passed out in an alley. When Yuya woke up, he exclaimed that a a Duelist used one of his monsters to defeat a trio of LID top students and cause real damage. Nico reassured him that this was all a dream, since he found Yuya unconscious and assumed that he had a lack of sleep. Yuya agreed with Nico and left with him. Before Yuya's next Duel, Nico accompanied him in a bus on the way to Pierre L'Supérieure's school. After talking for a while, Nico fell off a chair. Nico and the head of the academy announced the battle, then watched the Duel. Nico was impressed that Yuya won. He contacted Yuya on another day and noted the positive and negative things that happened during the Duels, and said Yuya had to really impress him in the next Duel. Yuya wondered why Nico was upset. Some time after, Yuya met Nico disguised as a fortune teller at the entrance of Aura Sentia's Dueling school, though his disguise unnerved Yuya. Nico and Madam Divina, the head of Aura's school, commenced the Duel. Nico was again happy that Yuya triumphed. Yuya's final opponent was Gong. He explained that he arranged Yuya's Duels so each one would train Yuya in a different way. Nico was pleased when Yuya won against Gong, which surpassed his expectations. Arc League Championship During the Arc League Championship inauguration ceremony, he requested Yuya to give a speech as part of his training. Nico would then commentate on all the Junior Division first round matches, and the Battle Royal. During the Battle Royal, the feeds were cut off and Nico could not give a coherent explanation for this. Friendship Cup Before Yuya left to the Synchro Dimension with the rest of the Lancers, Nico revealed he had very high hopes for Yuya and expected him to take over the pro Dueling world, yet he said that he was still proud of the Pendulum Summoner. Duel Academy After Z-ARC's defeat and the Standard Dimension being reborn into the "Pendulum Dimension", Nico had lost his memories of Zuzu and the events involving people from other dimensions. He announced the Battle Royal between Yuya Sakaki, Sylvio Sawatari, Gong Strong and Moon Shadow, and was the commentator for this duel. During the Duel, at the urging of Moon Shadow, Nico began to remember the events of the Arc League Championship. During his commentary, Skip Boyle stole Nico's microphone and announced to Yuya that Zuzu was missing. When Yuya won, Nico was about to promote him to the Senior Division but was stopped by Declan Akaba, who went to personally meet with Yuya to inform him of his next mission. He is later seen watching Yuya's Duel against Jack Atlas with You Show Duel School and was happy when Yuya won. He then watched Yuya and Declan's Action Duel. He was happy when Yuya won the Duel and witnessed Zuzu's revival. References Category:Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V characters